Minnesota!

Well, we made it and it wasn't even that bad of a trip! We drove to Seattle on Thursday afternoon and got to the hotel way past bedtime. (I got a little lost!) The kids slept pretty well and Rachel woke up at 6 am as usual, so I got up with her. We were in a tiny room, so there was no hiding from her! We got everything ready, packed, checked out and caught the shuttle to the airport at 8am. We checked our one piece of heavy luggage (the lady was kind enough not to make us pay extra) and walked to the security check. The kids were troopers with putting their backpacks in the bins, taking off their shoes, and walking through the metal detectors by themselves. Thankfully no one set them off and the whole thing went smoothly. They didn't even make me pour the water out of Rachel's sippy cup. Thoughtful!

We got to the gate just as they started boarding, so the timing was perfect. We got on a very full plane, and I got a little nervous that we wouldn't have three seats, but just two. Bennett found row 25 all by himself, and lo and behold there was a lady already sitting by the window. She was a small lady, so the three of us squished in next to her apologectically. For most of the flight we sat side by side, with Rachel in between Bennett and I. The kids ate snacks, drank juice, and looked at books while getting to cuddle with their blankets (usually a luxury reserved for bedtimes.) I was pretty tired, as I didn't fall asleep until sometime after midnight and woke up at 6. The flight was a little over three hours long, and no one got too ansy until the end.

We exited the secure part of the airport and Rohnda was there waiting for us. Bennett and Rachel both gave her a big hug and Rachel even let her hold her until we got to the car. (Pretty amazing for those of you that know Rachel!) My luggage was already there and we went to find the car.

Rohnda lives (normally) less than an hour from the airport, but there was an unusual amount of traffic which upped the time to over 1 1/2 hours. Rachel slept the whole way and Bennett pretended to so that he wouldn't have to nap when we got there.

We had a nice dinner with her kids and David, Rohnda's husband, and put the tired kids to bed. Rohnda drove David to the airport at 7 am the next morning for his trip to Africa (he is climbing Mt. Kilaminjaro, sp?)

We are having a great time visiting. Bennett is sick today, so has been resting and sleeping alot. I am praying that we don't spread the virus through all 5 kids while we are here!

I don't have any pictures yet, but I will be sure to take some and post them soon. Rohnda made Siri and Rachel matching t-shirt dresses today, and they look pretty cute together.

Please forgive any typos, I am not going to preview and edit this post! That's all for now. Bye from Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes!